Local pastor, daughter form relationships during Brazil mission trip

TRACI ANDERSON

Published
8:00 pm EDT, Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Mater, pastor of Hayes United Methodist Church and Bay Port United Methodist Church, and his daughter Megan, a senior at Laker High School, traveled to Curitiba, Brazil, on a two-week mission trip in late July/early August to share the word of God through leading English-spoken Bible studies.

Curitiba, a city of about two million, is southwest of Sao Paulo, the biggest city in Brazil.

"It's a very modern metropolitan area," Mater said of Curitiba, where they stayed at a Catholic retreat center.

The group spent much of its time with the English-spoken Bible classes. Two pastors and a bishop who lived in Brazil assisted the mission group.

"We had (Brazilians) practice and utilize English while always using a Bible base," Mater said. "Some had doubts in their faith, and (the classes) helped to strengthen their faith … (we) could see a change over time."

People in Brazil speak Portuguese and many follow Spiritism, the religious practice of worshiping spirits, he said.

The mission group also visited low-cost daycare centers sponsored by the Methodist church. The group members were amazed and very pleased with what they saw there - happy children being taught important life lessons.

"There are many poor people in Brazil. They have a high rate of unemployment," he said.

In a Methodist church in a slum area, he saw women sewing and quilting to make money. That inspired him.

"I would love to take a quilter from (the Thumb area) to Brazil to teach the women how to quilt," he said.

Mater said the experience would be very rewarding for anyone who decided to do it.

"We are all called to do something. We all have skills that we can share. If you speak English, you have a skill," he said. "It's not about the amount of work that gets done, it's about the relationships and the benefits of being friends."

Mater said the best part of mission trips is developing those relationships with people thousands of miles away.

"The main initiative is to build relationships so they can continue and strengthen over time," he said.

The mission group also did some sightseeing while in Brazil. The group visited the ocean near a small old town called Morrentis.

The mission trip, which included a team of eight people, was through Go International, a mission program based in Wimore, Ky. The organization has been in existence for about 40 years, Mater said. The Mater family used to live in Wimore before coming to Bay Port. The Maters have been in Bay Port for one year.

"We learned about (Go International), and it peaked our interest," Mater said. "We felt called to go on mission trips."

Go International has mission trips to Central America, South America, and India. The organization's motto is "serving across the streets and around the world."

Mater and his daughter made their first trip to Brazil in 2002. On that trip, they helped paint a church in a poor area and did door-to-door evangelism, asking people to come to evening church services.

"We developed more relationships that year," he said. "We were more involved in the community on that trip."

In their visits to Brazil, Megan said she really liked discovering how people in the U.S. aren't so different from people in Brazil.

"When you're together, interacting and worshiping, you realize how similar we all are," she said.

She said one thing that surprised her was how accepting the Brazilians were.

"You think that people in other countries don't like Americans, but they were very interested in us," she said.

"They looked at us not as Americans, but as brothers and sisters in Christ," Mater said. "They're interested in who we are. They're not judgmental."

Mater said the Brazilians are very involved in their worship. Praise bands are quite popular.

"They like to sing and dance," Megan added.

She said playing soccer in the street is another popular pastime there.

Mater said unlike Americans who tend to be impatient and doing things a mile a minute, Brazilians are more relaxed.

"They move at a slower pace; they're very easy going," he said.

"They're very affectionate," Megan added.

While the father and daughter said they never felt threatened or in danger, they were sure not to go out at night as theft is prevalent there.

"We were told you can't even trust the police there," he said.

Megan said education is very important to Brazilians. She said high school is much more involved there than in the U.S. Only a select few, she said, are able to go on to college, and students have to pass a lengthy exam in order to get into college.

While the Maters thoroughly enjoyed their time in Brazil, they'd like to take mission trips elsewhere. Megan said she'd like to go to Africa or India. Her dad said he'd like to go to Liberia as part of the Volunteers in Missions program through the United Methodist denomination. However, no matter where they go, Brazil never will be far away for them.

"Brazil will be a prominent part in our future," Mater said.

If you're interested in going on a mission trip to Brazil to help teach women how to quilt, or to assist in any other way, contact Pastor Doug Mater at (989) 656-2151.